


The World's Worst Trust Exercise

by TwilightKnight17



Series: Persona Kink Meme [5]
Category: Persona 5, Persona Series
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Gen, Mild Gore
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-22
Updated: 2017-09-22
Packaged: 2019-01-03 23:42:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,057
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12157200
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TwilightKnight17/pseuds/TwilightKnight17
Summary: Morgana finally learns the method to become human from the Velvet Room. It's something decidedly unpleasant, though, and isn't something he can do alone. And there's a catch: He can't tell the other person why he's making the request.What's a cat to do when his humanity rides on convincing his best friend to kill him?





	The World's Worst Trust Exercise

**Author's Note:**

> So I'd never actually heard of the fairy-tale this anon mentioned. That did not, however, stop me from filling this while I was feeling kind of down. Sometimes you just need angst and blood.
> 
> Original prompt: https://personakinkmeme.dreamwidth.org/993.html?thread=498401#cmt498401 
> 
> "Akira/Morgana: Does anyone know the fairy tale 'The White Cat'? In it a magical kitty helps a prince; a kitty who is actually a princess under a spell. In the end the prince frees her from the spell and returns her to her human form.
> 
> By cutting off her head and her tail.
> 
> Turns out that this is the trick that will let Morgana be human. Someone has to decapitate him and cut his tail off-and not just a random person, but a person who truly LOVES him. (Either platonically or romantically.)"

Morgana had been acting strange for almost a week, and Akira was worrying.

Everything had been going so well since he had been released from jail. Morgana had come home, he’d gotten to spend time with all of his friends, Sojiro treated him like he was another member of the family… He didn’t _want_ to be pessimistic, but he was almost certain something was going to go wrong, teetering on a knife’s edge and waiting for too many good things to cause the universe to overbalance into another crisis.

It hadn’t been weird when Morgana had gone out, citing a trip to the Velvet Room. The cat was technically a denizen of that weird blue space, after all, and Akira was certain Lavenza would take any excuse to cuddle him. But it was when Morgana returned, looking oddly melancholy, that Akira felt that nagging fear. He’d asked what was wrong, but Morgana insisted everything was fine.

And now Akira had been worrying for a week. Morgana had been sleeping restlessly, pressed close as if physical contact helped. He’d taken to curling up against whatever part of Akira was most convenient after the near-miss post-casino, so that was normal, but the shivering and blatant nightmares were new and concerning.

Akira was reading in bed one night when Morgana finally seemed to work up the nerve to say something. He’d been curled up on Akira’s lap, but got up and nudged his head up underneath Akira’s book, looking anxious. “Hey… Would it be okay...if I asked for a favor?”

“Of course it would. You know that.” Akira marked his place and set the book on his shelf, giving his full attention to the cat.

“...even if it’s something awful?” Morgana asked, not meeting his eyes.

Akira frowned, starting to worry. “It depends on how awful, I guess. What’s wrong, Morgana?”

“I, uh…” Morgana kneaded at his chest anxiously. “I need you to cut my tail off. And...um…” He mumbled the rest, and Akira gaped at him.

“You want me to cut your tail off?” he asked incredulously. “And what was the other part?”

Morgana rubbed at his ears. “My...head. My tail and my head. You have to cut them off.”

Akira stared at him, waiting for the joke, but Morgana refused to look at him, and he slowly realized that his cat was serious. “You… You want me to _kill_ you? M-Morgana, why?”

“I can’t tell you,” Morgana said. “It’ll be okay. I won’t die. But please, you have to. I’m sorry to ask, but please…”

“You want me to kill you and can’t tell me why?” Akira repeated, and he was looking and sounding more shaken by the moment. “I… I can’t do that…” 

He took a shuddering breath, and Morgana padded further up his chest to rub his face against Akira’s. Akira held him tightly, and he settled against Akira’s shoulder. “I’m sorry,” he said mournfully. “I didn’t want to ask you, but it has to be you. There’s no other way.” He tried for a reassuring tone, but it sounded weak. “Hey, come on, don’t you trust me?”

“Of course I do, but this is--!” Akira swallowed hard. “I’d say the same thing if any of my other teammates asked me to mutilate and kill them! Why can’t you tell me?”

“It won’t work otherwise,” Morgana said. “Akira, please, I have to do this. It’s...important.”

“I… You’re sure this will do...whatever you’re trying to do? And you’re sure you won’t die?”

“I promise.”

Akira forced himself to get up, letting Morgana drape over his shoulder. “I trust you, but… I just… I don’t like this.”

Morgana nuzzled the side of his head. “That’s why it has to be you.”

He went downstairs, finding a big garbage bag that he could tape over his table, and stared at the block of kitchen knives for a long time. They really weren’t right for...something like this, but they were all he had. His knives he’d used in the Metaverse weren’t sharp, and there was nothing like an axe or a katana around. And he was pretty sure Lavenza had destroyed those awful guillotines from the Velvet Room. He picked up the biggest knife in the kitchen, staring at it uncomfortably, and finally turned to go back upstairs.

Taping the plastic down on the table took most of his thoughts, but when he’d dragged up a chair and Morgana had hopped from his shoulder, his body felt like it was locking up. “Morgana…”

“It’s okay,” Morgana promised again. “I told you, I won’t die. Please, Akira.”

Akira shuddered, but nodded, and Morgana laid down on the table, rolling onto his side and leaving his throat exposed. For a brief, insane moment, Akira wondered what the hell he was doing, killing Hope at Hope’s own request, and then before he could choke he laid the knife across Morgana’s neck and pressed down. If he trusted nothing else in this world, he trusted Morgana.

Blood spilled over his hands, far more blood than he’d been imagining, coating the table and his skin in a sticky wash of scarlet. Morgana made a wheezing noise, struggling to breathe with a slit throat, and Akira forced down his turning stomach and pressed harder, trying desperately to finish as quickly as possible and not cause his friend any more pain than necessary. He’d seen horror movies with Haru, he’d watched people drown in their own blood onscreen, but this was real, and it was taking everything he had to not fall into hysterics. Slaying a thousand monsters was nothing compared to this.

The knife was caught on something, and a detached, empty part of his mind informed him impassively that a kitchen knife wasn’t going to cut through vertebrae, and that he needed to cut between instead. He shifted the knife, prompting another gush of blood over the tabletop, and this time it cut properly. When he pulled the knife back, all he could see was his cat in two pieces, Morgana’s empty eyes staring at him. He made a shaky noise and slammed the knife down on the cat’s tail as hard as he could, severing it almost at the base. That done, the knife fell from trembling, bloody fingers, and Akira sucked in a breath, waiting for something to happen. His heart pounded as a minute ticked by, then two, and he felt a scream building up in his throat.

He stumbled down the stairs, nearly falling, and landed on his knees in the bathroom just in time as he threw up. He’d killed Morgana. He’d _killed Morgana_ , what the hell had he been thinking agreeing to something like that? What was he going to tell Sojiro, his friends, _Futaba?_ Another wave of nausea overcame him, and he threw up again, shaking.

He didn’t know how long he stayed on the bathroom floor, wracked with sickness and grief, but eventually he managed to stagger to his feet and clean the blood from his hands. Once all traces of red were gone, he went and sat at the counter, unable to face the prospect of having to go back to his room. He might never be able to go in his room again; even if he could bring himself to clean up, the sight of Morgana dead by his hand wasn’t going to go away. How long could he get away with sleeping in the booths before Sojiro noticed?

The countertop was cool against his forehead as he tried desperately to collect himself, but a sound from the stairs made him sit up and glance over. It sounded like a footstep, but that couldn’t be right. His voice wasn’t working, so he just waited, as more footsteps followed, and a boy with shaggy black hair and bright blue eyes stumbled into view. The kid was wearing a pair of Akira’s sweatpants and a loose shirt, pants and sleeves rolled up to accommodate the fact that he was barely as tall as Futaba. Akira’s mouth fell open, and he said incredulously, hopefully, “M-Morgana?”

“I wanted to be taller,” the kid - _Morgana_ \- complained. “Lady Ann will never fall for me like this.”

Akira stared at him in disbelief. “You’re… You’re _human_ …”

Morgana nodded, catching a sleeve as it slid down and nearly covered his hand. “Sorry I had to steal your clothes. I wasn’t wearing anything after I changed…” His expression turned sad. “I’m so sorry, Akira, I know that had to have been hard…”

Akira almost fell off the seat at the counter in his hurry to get up, walking right up to him and dragging him into a tight hug. “I thought… I thought I had done something wrong… I thought you were…”

After a moment of surprise, Morgana hugged him back, wrapping skinny arms around his waist. “Futaba’s right. You really do give good hugs,” he said, pressing his face against Akira’s chest. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know how long it would take to work. But Lavenza said I couldn’t tell you why you had to do it. Someone who loves me had to do it on trust alone, or it wouldn’t have worked. And you love me the most.”

“...I…” His first instinct was to march off and yell at Lavenza. Which was immediately combatted by the part of him that could never manage a harsh word against Lavenza ever. Which was followed by the rational thought that Lavenza had just explained the method, not created it, so it wasn’t her fault.

...maybe it was Igor’s fault. Igor had made Morgana, right? But something told him he didn’t want to yell at Igor, even if Igor wasn’t a malevolent force in disguise anymore.

Instead, he focused on the kid still latched onto him, ruffling Morgana’s hair, which was no less soft now that he was human. “Morgana…”

Morgana shook his head against Akira’s chest. “We should go to bed,” he said, and the familiar suggestion was like a breath of fresh air. “We’ll be busy tomorrow, when everyone finds out.”

Akira took him back upstairs, startled to see that the blood and body were gone as if they’d never been there, leaving just his bizarrely plastic-covered table. But he decided to leave that for in the morning, finding Morgana something to wear to bed that wouldn’t drown him. It was only once they’d settled in, Morgana asleep tucked in beside him, that Akira finally let himself cry, from stress and frustration and relief and gratitude.

He was never doing something like that ever again, no matter _who_ asked.

***

The next morning, when Sojiro arrived at Leblanc, he found Akira and an unfamiliar black-haired boy downstairs with six different coffee mugs and a plate of curry. The boy was taking sips from each mug, contemplating the taste with a look of such intense concentration it was almost comical, and Sojiro went to hang his hat up while watching curiously.

“Who’s this, Akira?”

Akira bit his lip. “Do you remember how I told you that Morgana wasn’t really a cat, he was the embodiment of humanity’s hope?”

Sojiro raised an eyebrow. “Yes…?” But Akira just gestured to the boy, and Sojiro’s mouth fell open. “ _That’s_ your cat?”

“I’m not a cat anymore!” Morgana chirped happily. “And your curry really is amazing, now that I can actually eat it!”

Sojiro walked over to sit down heavily at the counter. “...should I ask why he’s human now?”

“No,” both boys chorused in unison, and Sojiro nodded.

“Okay, then. But listen, kid, you really need to stop this. Eight kids is enough, even if only three of them are technically mine.”

“Thr-- oh. _Oh._ I can still stay?” Morgana asked, his eyes wide.

“I’d be offended if you didn’t,” Sojiro said gruffly. “But if you’re planning on sticking with this guy, you two get to explain to his parents where he suddenly acquired a kid brother.”

Akira might not have liked the method, but in the end he was pretty sure that the huge smile on Morgana’s face made it worth it. He watched Morgana and Sojiro talking animatedly about different flavors of coffee, going to hang up his apron. The last thing making anyone on his team unhappy was finally resolved. He could end his year in Tokyo without regrets now.


End file.
